Immortality or Resurrection by William West (philippa perry book txt) 📕

asleep in Christ and all those who are alive at the second coming will both be changed. The immortal soul doctrine says, "None of us shall sleep for this would be soul sleeping."
• In 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 Paul said nothing about a soul or spirit that needs no resurrection or changes but is speaking of the changing of our body to a spiritual body.
• "For in the resurrection they...are as the angels IN HEAVEN" [Matthew 22:30]. Angels are not in the image of Adam.
• "And as we have borne the image of the earthy (Adam), we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (Christ)" [1 Corinthians 15:49].
• “Beloved, we are now children of God, and it is NOT YET MADE MANIFEST WHAT WE SHALL BE. We know that, if he shall be manifested, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for we shall see him even as he is” [1 John 3:2].
• "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall FASHION ANEW the body of our humiliation, that it may BE CONFORMED to the body of his glory” [Philippians 3:20-21 American Standard Version].
o "CHANGE" King James Version. "TRANSFORM" New American Standard Version.
If the dead are now living in some kind of paradise somewhere, but not Heaven, Hell or earth, why do they hope for a resurrection of the earthly body, and what good would it be? "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" [1 Corinthians 15:52] what would be the reason for raising the natural body for such a short time? Will the soul come back from Heaven to put the earthly body back on, only to put it off ("Be changed") in a moment all before the judgment? See 1 Corinthians 15:50; 1 Thessalonians 5:15-17; Philippians 3:21). Then it would have the earthly body resurrected only for the "twinkling of an eye" [1 Corinthians 15:52]. If the soul is living in heaven or hell, the resurrection of the body for only a moment is all there could be to the resurrection, why have it; no part of a person would be dead but his body; no part of a person could be raised from the dead but his body. The only part of a person they believe will be in heaven or hell, the immaterial, invisible soul, would be as alive as it will ever be and already be where they think it will always be. Robert C. Welch says we will not come forth with the same kind of body, which is planted. Florida College Lectures, Page 238, 1975.
What kind of body will we have for eternity? When we are caught up to meet Christ in the air, will He bring us back to earth and have His kingdom of earth where we will have an earthly body, or will we be with Him in Heaven and have a spiritual body? If you believe on earth, an earthly body is a must, if you believe in Heaven it cannot be an earthly body. Where we will be for eternity will determine what kind of body we will have.
Not one kind of body living in another kind of body: 1 Corinthians 15:42 is a simple and undeniable statement that says that we do not now have incorruption and immortality, and will not have them after death; we will not have put on incorruption or immortality unto the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:54). No one knows anything about what our spiritual body will be like, but it is not something we now have inside this body of flesh, just waiting to get out at death. It will be a body, not just a thin air nothing or some kind of ghost; therefore, it will have substance of some kind, but not any kind of earthly substance, not flesh [1 John 3:2]. And not something that will fit within this body and not be seen. Not one kind of body, made with one kind of substance, living inside another kind of body that has another kind of substance. Likewise, Heaven is a place with substance (most certainly far greater than this earth), and not just a cloud in the sky. This world and universe are so complicated and large that there is much on this earth that man does not yet know, and he does not yet even know the size of this creation with it’s many galaxies. My opinion is that it is small and insignificance in both size and splendor when compared to Heaven, and this body is an insignificance seed, an acorn compared to a large oak tree [1 Corinthians 15:35-39], of the spiritual body we will have in Heaven. Seeds are unlike the trees yet the same identity is in them; we cannot know what the characteristics of the spiritual body will be by looking at our physical body. If there were a Hell would the lost have the same great new and splendid spiritual body in Hell, which the saved in Heaven will have?
We cannot see God's greatest work (Heaven and spiritual beings) or know anything about what they are like; therefore, this universe shows us only a small part of the power of God. We each do different things in a day, not all the same things, or all think the same thoughts. Today we do not do the same thing that we did the day before. While there will not be days as we know them, Heaven will not be an eternity with everyone doing and thinking the same thing, or all seeing the same thing with never any change. Heaven will not be just a glorified earth, but we will each one be the same individual as we now are, not just carbon copies of each other. Heaven will be great far beyond this earth or anything that can come into our minds now, but many act in such a way that shows going there is not the most important thing to them; and taking others to it is even less important.
"I do not know what all we will be doing in heaven, but I do know we will not be dormant and inactive" B. Reeves, Guardian of Truth, Page 8, 1996.
We now have a "natural body" and after the resurrection will have a "spiritual body." Do evil spirits have a body? If God, angels and evil spirits have no substance of any kind, if they are nothing but thoughts with no body, there can not be a "spiritual body" [1 Corinthians 15:44]. This being in us would now be like the angels but Christ said we will be “as angels” in the resurrection, but we are not now “as angels” [Matthew 22:30]. Though we can now know only of material substances of this earth does not mean there is no spiritual substances. If there were not, there could be no Heaven and no spiritual body; just as this earth is a real place made up of real substance, Heaven is a real place and spiritual being are real being. We are not now a spirit as the angels and demons are and will not be unto the resurrection. We may not understand how God, Christ and the Spirit dwell in us, nor how evil spirits can be in a person but the fact that they do does not make them be nothing but thoughts with no substance as Robert A. Peterson says they are in “Hell On Trial.” Does not make all spiritual being be nothing but thin air, they have a body that has substance though not earthly substance that we can see with our natural eyes.
Can you imagine such a thing as people standing before God clothed with white robes and praising God, but they have no body? It is inconceivable. A thin air nothing cannot wear a robe or speak to praise God. If this earthly body "the body of our humiliation" that shall be fashioned anew "that it may be conformed to the body of his glory" shall be a thin air ghost with no body, then it would make Christ also be a thin air nothing. How can nothing have "glory"? How can thin air nothing be like anything "conformed" ["fashioned" King James Version]? There would be nothing to "conform" to anything.
"What we will be has not yet been revealed, what we do know is this: when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is" [1 John 3:2, New Revised Standard Version]. I do not know how God made this world out of nothing, but He said in His word that He did and I believe Him. I do not know how God can raise me with a spiritual body without this earthly body and it still be me, but His word says He will and I believe Him.
The resurrection will be from the dead, not from life. It shows we are now mortal and will die, and we will be dead, not living with immortality before the resurrection. It will be a bringing back to life those who are DEAD.
"BUT EACH IN HIS OWN ORDER" 1 Corinthians 15:23-38
"Christ the first-fruits"
1. "Then they that are Christ's at His coming."
The order of being raised from the dead is changed to:
1. "Christ the first-fruits"
2. "Then all that are in Christ" are raised at their death, and Paul was wrong when he said, "at His coming."
But in truth the order has been changed to:
1. The dead in the Old Testament were raised at their death, before Christ and without His resurrection.
2. Therefore, Christ was not the first-fruits
3. "Then all that are in Christ" are raised at their death, and Paul was wrong both times. Wrong when he said Christ was the first-fruits and wrong when he said, "they that are Christ's at His coming." Do you believe man or God?
Guardian of Truth, page 254, 1994 said in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul deals with one-half of the resurrection. He is speaking only of those in Christ and says nothing about those not in Christ. This is also true of most of 1 Corinthians 15 "They that are Christ's at His coming" 15:23. The lost will not be "raised in glory" 15:43, in "power" 15:43, or in "the image of the heavenly" (Christ) 15:49. Can you find one thing said about the body of the lost after the judgment? What will it be like?
• Will their body be in the image of Christ when they are in Hell?
• Will their body still be in the image of Adam when they are in Hell?
• Will God give the lost a spiritual immortal body only so He can torment them forever?
The doctrine of eternal torment makes the Bible need to be rewrote.
• "Wages is sin is death" [Romans 623] must be rewrote to be, "Wages of sin is an eternal life of torment"
• "You shall surely die" [Genesis 2:16-17] must be rewrote to be, "You shall surely suffer eternal torment in Hell"
• "Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin" [Romans 5:12] must be rewrote to be, "Through one man sin entered into the world, eternal Hell through sin"
• "For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes on him should not perish" [John 3:16] must be rewrote to be, "For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes on him should not go to Hell"
MAKES 1 CORINTHIANS 15 IMPOSSIBLE by teaching that we are immortal and have incorruption from birth. We cannot put on that which we now have on. If